Great review of 'BabyBarista and the Art of War' in The Times newspaper

This book’s genesis is in an anonymous blog started in 2007. The book emerges as a cross between The Talented Mr Ripley, Rumpole and Bridget Jones’s Diary.

The reader is pitched into Baby Barista’s manipulative, scheming and, often, downright evil battle to gain tenancy over his competing pupils. The plot burns up the pages and the characters that range within are all highly observed and coloured with Kevan’s acerbic wit.

Few people have names other than the nicknames bestowed by Baby Barista. This technique alone seduces smiles. They include Old Smoothie and The Vamp; there is a junior clerk “Fancies Himself”, while solicitors provide the characters of “Slippery Slope” and “Cliche Clanger”. There are some decent moral legal figures such as Old Ruin and The Busker. However, it is the selfish, lying, money-grubbing and duplicitous lawyer characters who dominate the narrative.

It would have been refreshing if Kevan had lingered longer over his decent lawyers to counterbalance his voracious characters. However, the emphasis on the grotesque does have the effect of ratcheting up the plot.

Ultimately, the book is a gallop of a read. It is a clever legal romp, a comedy mixed with ruminations about life, liberally peppered with black humour and layered in farce. It firmly proclaims, and disclaims, that it is fiction but there are many Bar absurdities from which Kevan has accurately drawn. As to whether any of the cast represent generic legal characters lurking in the profession, all I can say is that you may very well think that; I couldn’t possibly comment.

No comments:

Advertise on this blog

Follow me

About this blog

BabyBarista started out as a humble blog on this website. The stories he told led to him getting two book deals with Harry Potter's publisher Bloomsbury and also a blog on The Times online for three years and The Guardian online for two years. Much of the first six months of the blog can be found in the archives on this site from October 2006 to March 2007. Later content is at the BabyBarista Blog. It is written by barrister (non-practising) and writer Tim Kevan.

Insurance

Law and Disorder

Law and Disorder is published by Bloomsbury and was described by broadcaster Jeremy Vine as "a wonderful, racing read - well-drawn, smartly plotted and laugh out loud" and by The Times as "a cross between The Talented Mr Ripley, Rumpole and Bridget Jones’s Diary". It is based upon the BabyBarista blog which was described by The Lawyer as "genius"

Law and Peace

Law and Peace is the second novel in The BabyBarista Files and was published by Bloomsbury in 2011.

Cartoons by Alex Williams

The wonderful cartoons of the BabyBarista characters are by hotshot Hollywood animator Alex Williams who just happened to qualify as a barrister in his youth. He also draws the Queen's Counsel cartoons for The Times and most recently penned 101 Ways to Leave the Law. If you would like a signed copy of any of the cartoons, please email garry@lawbriefpublishing.com.

BabyBarista and the Art of War

BabyBarista and the Art of War was the original name for the trade paperback version of Law and Disorder.